Packing for vapor-liquid contact apparatus



March l2, 1963 l.. B. BRAGG PACKING FOR VAPOR-LIQUID CONTACT APPARATUS 2 .Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 1, 195e i 5 H-b /05 MAMMA ATTORNEY L. B. BRAGG March l12, 1963 PACKING FOR VAPOR-'LIQUID CONTACT APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 1. 1958 INVENTOR Esc/E 5. 5R76@ y ATTORNEY 4.?" vii-.....-

United States Patent C 3,081,072 PACKING FOR VAPGR-LIQUID CONTACT V APPARATUS Leslie B. Bragg, Ridgewood, NJ., assignor to Packed Column Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York A Filed Dec. 1, 1958, Ser. No. 777,483 1 Claim. (Cl. 261-106) This invention relates to contact devices effecting contact between liquid and vapor or gas in fractionating columns, absorbers, scrubbers and the like, and more particularly pertainsto an improvement of the type of packing material described in the patent of R. C. Scofield, No. 2,470,652 dated May 17, 1949, wherein each tray is composed of a mat formed from a plurality of layers of foraminous material, said mat. having spaced parallel ridges and valleys to form intermediate sloping areas along which theliquid. flows and being fabricated to confor-n1 to the horizontal section of the column in which the mat is installed.

'Thepresent invention provides a packing material that is made of small unit pieces which in the size for a four inch high tray can be introduced into a column shell through an opening as small as ten inch in diameter.

The packing trays are made of single sheets or layers.

As a result of imperfections of manufacture and unc-ontrollable temperature stresses commercial column shells are never truly round in cross-section and are seldom even of theexactly correct perimeter. Consequently, the rigid construction of a unitary prefabricated tra-y does not permit a satisfactory iit between t-he inner column wall and the packing.

As a practical expedient it was necessary to construct such trays somewhat smaller in diameter than the inside of the column shell and then to fill the resulting annular' space between the tray and the column shell with a packing material such Ias stainless steel wool or rock wool. lIihis resulted in a non-uniform structure inside the column which permitted channeling of some liquid and possibly also vapor past the trays.

A feature of the present invention is the provision of a packing material which can readily be extended or contracted along the length of the serrations to allow for variations in diameter or out-of-roundness of the column shell and also provision for iield trimming of the packing sections when necessary during installation to further insure a close tit at all points between the packing sections and the column wall.

Another object of this invention is the provision of an increased active cross-sectional area for the iiow of the vapor or gas and thereby to provide for a greater allowable overall vapor or gas velocity.

The invention will be better understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings `forming a part thereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic vertical sectional -view of part of a fractionating column having packing material arranged in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a detail view partly in side elevation and partly in section showing the construction of a unit from which the tray is formed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 are sections taken on the lines 5-5, 6--6 and 7-7 respectively of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 8 is a transverse section through a unit illustrating a further embodiment of the invention.

3,081,072 Patented Mar. 12, 1963 iCe Referring to Vthe drawings more in detail:

The packing material of this invention is composed of a grouping of elongated V-shaped units 10 which are arranged to be fitted together to form a tray 11 extending across the entire internal cross-section of the column 12. Successive trays 11 are assembled in stacked relationship to provide a packed column such as is generally shown in FIG. 1.

The elongated V-shaped units 10, the details of which are shown in FIGURES 3 7, each consists of a small channel member 15 located at the point of the V, and formed with a bottom wall 16 and substantially vertical side w-alls 17. The sloping walls of 'the V-shaped units are formed by individual panels 1K8 of foraminous material, such as expanded metal, having openings of a size incapable of supporting a film of the liquid being processed, herein referred to as non-filming or non-capillary foraminous material. Each panel 18 is provided at its upper edge with a ange 19 which is welded -or otherwise secured to the outer surface of a vertical wall `17 of the channel member 15. Along its lower edge each of the panels 18 is provided with a ven-tical iiange 20 which is adapted to rest within the channel 15 of the tray below. The anges 19 and 20 may comprise unexpanded metal or, if the entire panel 18 is formed from a sheet of exi panded metal, the areas of the flanges 19 and 20 may be pressed to a vfiat state.

As shown in FIGS. l and 3-7 the lowermost member 11 is formed by a plurality of units 10 which are placed side by side with their lowermost flanges 20 substantially in contact and with the adjacent flanges 2.0 of successive units 10 disposed in supporting channels 21. A series of such channels 21 .are mounted on supporting members 22 for-ming a portion of a grid 23 which is secured in the lowermost portion of the column 12. In the embodiment shown four such units y10` are disposed across te column and a portion of a fifth such unit is cut to lill in the space at one side of the column so that the completed tray extends entirely across the cross-sectional area of the column.

Similar trays 11 are stacked on the lowermost tray with the. flanges 20 of the units 10 of each tray resting in the channels 15 of the tray below.

ln order to permit each unit 10 to be adjusted to a length conforming exactly to the contour of the column, each such unit is formed in two sections, 10a and 10b, which are -overlapped as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. A portion of the channel 15 and of the flanges 19 and 2.0 of the section 10b is cut back so as to permit the section 10b to nest closely on the surface of the section 10a, thereby forming in effect projecting flanges 18b on lche section 10b which rest upon the outer surfaces of the panels 18a of the section 10a.

When the two sections 10a and 10b of the unit 10 are installed in the tower they are adjusted in length and the ends are trimmed if necessary to confor-m to the contour of the tower at that zone.

The embodiment shown in FIG. 8 is similar to that above -described except that the unit 10c of FIG. 8 is of unitary construction and is made from a blank composed of a central portion 15e of unexpanded metal, areas 18al of expanded metal, and side portions 20c of unexpanded metal. The side portions 20c are bent downwardly to constitute the supporting flanges and the central portion 15c is bent inwardly into a U-shaped section similar to the channels 15 above described. In this embodiment the expanded panels 18e are of somewhat greater area than the panels `18. rllhe pervious section begins at the rim of the channel 15e` and extends to the lower arigf area 20c.

In operation, the liquid ows ydownwardly along thi adjacent panels. The vapor or gas flows upwardly through the openings in the panels, bubbling through the liquid in the pools above mentioned as it rises. The nature of the flow and the shape of the packing promote repeated division and recombinations of both liquid and vapor-gas streams, thereby promoting uniform distribution of both streams.

It should be understood that the invention while describing primarily packing material made of expanded terial may be used in the inverted position with the channels opening downwardly.

The expression vapor as used herein and in the claim includes gas within its scope.

Inasmuch as changes may be made in the form of the packing disclosed and the material of which the packing to be limited except by the scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is: A column packing for a vapor-liquid contact column,

adapted to seat in and be supported by corresponding channel members of corresponding units of the adjacent lower tray, said channel members having a width to hold and maintain the vertical bottom anges of the units of ported by said bottom walls whereby the stacked trays form a rigid self-supporting structure which may be assembled or disassembled by inserting said bottom anges References Cited in the file of this patent UNITEDV STATES PATENTS 833,686 Hart Oct. 16, 1906 1,296,028 Whittridge Mar. 4, 1919 1,516,187 Hanson Nov. 18, 1924 1,741,495 Barry Dec. 31, 1929 1,888,181 Riesbol Nov. 15, 1932 2,047,444 Stedman July 14, 1936 2,051,545 Collins Aug. 18, `1936 2,470,652 Scoeld May 17, 1949 2,714,504 Bowles Aug. 2, 1955 2,878,761 Harder et al. Mar. 24, 1959 2,884,236 Maille Apr. 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 23,546 Great Britain Oct. 25, 1907 503,125 Belgium May 3l, 1951 510,204 Belgium Apr. 15, 1932 697,363 Great Britain Sept. 23, 1953 729,587 Great Britain May 11, 1955 840,435 Germany June 9, 1952 855,675 France Feb. 19, 1940 OTHER REFERENCES 

